1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of connectable devices and, more particularly, to an adaptor device, including associated manufacturing process thereof, which supports connectivity among wireless and media-processing devices, including for purposes of transmitting digital media.
2. Description of the Background Art
Today, digital imaging, particularly in the form of digital cameras, is a prevalent reality that affords a new way to capture photos using a solid-state image sensor instead of traditional film. A digital camera functions by recording incoming light on sensing mechanisms of some type and then processes that information (basically, through analog-to-digital conversion) to create a memory image of the target picture. A digital camera's biggest advantage is that it creates images digitally thus enabling these images to be transferred between all kinds of devices and applications. For instance, one can easily insert digital images into word processing documents, send them by e-mail to friends, or post them on a Web site where anyone in the world can see them. Additionally, one can use photo-editing software to manipulate digital images to improve or alter them. For example, one can crop them, change colors or contrast, and even add and delete elements. Digital cameras also provide immediate access to one's images, thus avoiding the hassle and delay of film processing. All told, digital photography is becoming increasingly popular because of the flexibility it gives the user when he or she wants to use or distribute an image.
A variety of digital image products are currently available to consumers for recording digital images. Regardless of how images are recorded digitally, at some later point in time, the image information must be transferred to a computer or a larger network of digital devices, so that the images may be stored, outputted (e.g., printed to hard copy) or shared with other people. Another reason for transfer of digital images is that current digital cameras typically have rather limited resources. As a result, transfer of the pictures from a digital camera is necessary to free up memory, thereby enabling the digital camera to record and store additional images. As digital image products have become more popular, there is increasing interest in facilitating easy and efficient transfer of images from digital cameras to other larger computing devices (or a network of such computing devices).
Many digital cameras provide wires or cables for transmitting digital images from the camera to another computing device such as a server or a personal computer. However, this transfer requires a physical connection between the camera and the larger computing device. This requirement for a physical (hard-wire) connection is inconvenient for many digital camera users. Frequently, a digital camera user takes photographs when he or she is on vacation, at a sporting event or at some other remote location where he or she does not have easy physical access to computing facilities. Given the limited storage capacities of existing digital cameras, this may result in a limitation on the use (and usefulness) of digital cameras. Without an available mechanism for a user to transfer the images to another computing device, he or she may only be able to take and store a relatively small number of photos on the camera.
More recently, digital camera producers have begun to develop mechanisms for the “wireless” transmission of digital images. The ability of a user to wirelessly transmit digital images provides many of the same advantages currently provided to telephone users by wireless telephone technologies. One of these advantages is that wireless technology enables the digital camera user to upload his or her digital images from a remote location without being required to have a physical connection to a server or network.
The state of the art for “wireless” digital cameras is presently embryonic. Currently, “wireless” digital cameras are not independently wireless-enabled due to cost, weight, power consumption, and other utility factors. To remain lightweight, affordable, electrically charged, and sufficiently handy for taking pictures, current digital cameras do not incorporate the hardware necessary for wireless transmission of their pictures. Instead, digital cameras must be attached to another device to perform this wireless transmission of digital images.
The typical system required in order to transfer digital images wirelessly from a camera device involves coupling the camera to at least a data-capable cellular phone. Frequently, those two separate devices (i.e., the camera and the phone) must also be connected to a third device, such a laptop computer, to facilitate the transfer of digital images. This is necessary because many current cellular phones do not have the ability to handle digital images. In this situation, wireless transmission requires the digital camera to be connected via a cable to the laptop PC, with the laptop PC connected to the cellular phone by a second cable. All this hardware and the manual cable(s) connecting these devices are very cumbersome for a digital camera user to operate.
Recent innovations allow for direct connectivity between digital camera devices and data-capable, or camera-capable, cellular phone devices, bypassing the need for an intermediary laptop device. The ability to connect a cellular-capable digital camera to a data-capable cellular phone is, however, commercially hampered by the lack of standard interfaces on the cellular phones and on the digital cameras. The coupling of a digital camera to a cellular phone is presently implemented with a proprietary cable or adaptor device that does not allow consumers to freely mix-and-match different wireless cameras to different cellular phones. This model-specific, or at least vendor-specific, device dependency is contrary to the usual preference of consumers to select each device based on its own features. Since both cameras and cellular phones are generally used independently of each other (i.e., cellular phones are primarily used for voice communications and digital cameras are primarily used for taking pictures), users tend to select cellular phones with features targeted to placing/receiving phone calls and digital cameras with features targeting image capture.
In addition, many users purchasing digital cameras already have a cellular telephone as cellular telephone technology preceded wireless digital photography in commercial popularity. A consumer that is about to procure his or her first wireless digital camera often already has a particular model of cellular phone tailored to his or her wireless (voice) calling needs. This user does not want to be required to purchase another cellular phone merely as a result of the fact that his or her existing phone is not compatible with the wireless digital camera that he or she has selected. This user also does not want to limit his or her selection of a new wireless digital camera to the few that are compatible with the cellular phone he or she already owns.
Although the foregoing problem has been described in terms of connecting a wireless digital camera to a host cellular phone, it will be appreciated that the problem is more general. Often, it is desirable to connect one class of devices (e.g., PDA devices) to another class of devices (e.g., cellular phones), and do so in a manner that easily accommodates the proprietary features of any particular device.
Because of the ever-increasing popularity of coupling user-operated devices together, such as coupling a handheld imaging device to a handheld wireless communication device, much interest exists in finding a solution to these problems.